The Mark of the Panther
by Clouded Senses
Summary: It hasn't been a month since the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry is spending his summer alone in Little Whinging with nothing to do and no one to talk to. But he's about to discover the biggest secret of his life - and she isn't exactly happy about it.


**Title**: Harry Potter and the Mark of the Panther

**Year**: 5

**Ship**: Harry/OC

**Genre**: AU

**Rating**: Teen (for moderate cursing and some adult themes)

**Sypnosis:**

One secret, two secrets, three secrets, four-

Tell me how many lie behind this door-?

Guinevere Rose Miller has lived her entire life beneath the unwitting nose of the Wizarding World. And she likes it that way, thank you very much. Shut away from the world that she was expelled from in a whirlwind of violence, she can ignore the demons of her past and focus on building a new future for herself and her Wizard-school dropout friends. But when her grandmother dies, leaving her alone with the family name, she soon finds that the past isn't as dead as she thought it was. A posthumous errand for her caretaker turns her plans upside down and sends her straight into the path of the one person she'd hoped she'd never meet- and into plain sight of the society she'd been shunning.

Now as her whole lifetime of secrets becomes unraveled for all the world to see, she's found a couple of new ones to keep in her back pocket. The only problem is...These may be too big to fit there- especially with bloody Harry Potter trying to tail her all the time.

**

It's been less than a month since the tragic happenings of the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry Potter is a man...ahem...boy divided. It's not that he wants to suddenly be attacked by Voldemort or his henchmen again- he just doesn't want to spend his entire holiday collecting dust in Little Whinging. But then a surprise Dementor attack forces him together with a strange, rude girl, and he finds himself embroiled in a mash of shocking revelations that will change his life forever. As he struggles to decode the mysteries of his reluctant new acquaintance, and with the threat of Voldemort looming dangerously nearer each day, Harry discovers that you can never be too careful what you wish for.

**Disclaimer**:

The characters and settings of the Harry Potter world belong to _JK Rowling_; I write this story purely out of enjoyment by myself and others, and make no monetary claim off my work.

**People have asked me:**

_What is the aim of the plot, and why isn't the focus on Harry and his friends?_

The plot was inspired by one thought: I loved the original HP series, but I felt that HP fanfiction should not simply repeat 'old' ideas from the series. I love Harry himself, but I was sick of reading fics that were focused around the problems that he and his friends faced in the real books, with just a few original characters thrown into the mix. And the fanfics in which ordinary kids found themselves suddenly drawn into the world of HP. I love Marauder fanfic, but I didn't want to focus on it. I wanted to create something that exposed aspects of JKR's characters that I felt existed, but because the entire series was written from Harry's point of view, we may not have gotten to experience. (For instance- we never got to truly see how Ginny and Hermione got on with other girls their age, because in all of the scenes in which they appeared, everything was from Harry's point of view.)

I wanted to create something that drew in all of my favourite characters, and connected them by a central point. And I asked myself what sort of trouble I'd like Harry to get into this year...Well, as we all know, poor Harry has been through enough. After four years of living in the (often malicious) spotlight of the Wizarding world, he's seen enough tragedy, and been the subject of enough gossip and discussion. And now, after Cedric's death, and his own 'almost' demise, I was thinking that all he really wants is peace and quiet. To settle down and just enjoy the company of his friends, the only people who come close to understanding him. Even if he knows well enough by now to know that this isn't really possible.

And so I wondered what would happen if someone else caused him his troubles this year. Someone wholly opposite to the type of original character that my friends and I were used to reading about. I wanted someone similar to Harry, but who handled themselves in a completely different way. Someone good at heart, but essentially troubled, just like him. Someone who would both infuriate him to the Nth Degree, but also pull him into all the reckless mischief that would bring about all sorts of hilarity and room for possible happiness for other troubled characters that JKR has blessed us with.

And that's when I thought of Guin: stubborn, secretive and somewhat manipulative, but someone who just wants what's best, in the end. The type of person Harry would dislike, because he strives for truth and clarity in his life, but also that he can't help but accept, because she's somehow not as evil as he really wants to believe she is. I wanted a story in which Harry's friends get on better with the main OC, than he does -not the typical love-inspired fanfic plot that I'm used to seeing. I wanted comedy, action, adventure, adversity. I wanted a plot in which the main characters have to suffer a bit, in which the reader may not always like what they're doing to each other -but by the end of the story, they're cheering them on towards success and happiness. But I didn't want just one OC, because when I thought about the possible storyline for all the other JKR characters that I wanted to include, I saw room for entertaining, heartwarming and angsty subplots that I thought would just add bursts of colour to the main plot.

The purpose of the character Guin is to be the connection between JKR's characters and the OCs, hence the reason that much of the focus is shared between her and Harry. However, readers will also find that the presence of sub-plots allows for the focus to switch to other characters, the aim of which is to enrich the storyline. Throughout the entire fic, there will be adversities which many characters have to overcome, in one way or another- with help, or all alone. And the biggest adversity of them all -the rift between Harry and Guin- must be filled (if somewhat slowly) in order for the story to tie itself together. So for those of you who have asked me why we hear so much about Guin- now you know. Her story must be told if it is to meet up with Harry's in this timing.

And so we've got Harry Potter and the Mark of the Panther, an Alternate-Universe fanfic in which Harry's already hectic and confusing life gets flipped upside down, completely against his peace-seeking will. If you've taken the time to read the background of this story, and you find yourself interested, I really hope that you are pleased with what you discover. If not, that's also alright. I do hope you find the fanfic you're looking for.


End file.
